Full-blown military exercises between the US and NZ could begin within a year, Defence Minister Wayne Mapp says.

The United States wants to to stamp its presence on the Pacific region.

Defence Minister Wayne Mapp has ordered an immediate inquiry after reports businessmen paid for sessions with the defence force's elite Special Air Service (SAS) troops.

The joke doing the rounds is that there seems to be no spare cash for anything more than hiring consultants to squeeze more money out of the Defence Force's budget to hire even more expensive consultants...

The United States and NZ will today sign a new partnership document known as the Wellington Declaration.

The two European superpowers, long distrustful of each other, have entered into a Defence Treaty.

Every arm of the Defence Force will undergo changes to gain greater efficiency of operation from a constrained state purse, the defence white paper suggests.

NZ war hero Lieutenant Colonel John Milbanke Masters, who saved a Gurkha soldier's life in Borneo and campaigned tirelessly for agent orange victims, has been farewelled.

The Govt's defence white paper stresses that NZ's security is enhanced by improving bilateral relations with "like-minded" states.

Big changes are in store for the New Zealand Defence Force, as the Government looks to 'reprioritise' spending.